2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

[Bob Gray]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

People are always amazed and depressed when studies come out showing that 60% of the public is Creationist

True. What's wrong with the other 40 percent?

Problem with your theory is that if the kooks are on the increase, they are also likely on the increase in the media that is supposedly unveiling the kooks, so the kooks in the media will be in cahoots with the kooks and they won't be unveiled as such.

I'd argue that's why you see so many headlines (and the stories behind them) that grossly misrepresent various stories, yet you constantly hear media people talk about how they can't imagine being biased and how the public just doesn't get how unbiased they are.

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

Doesn't the article say the decision was made by the House Ethics Committee, not the House GOP? Isn't the House Ethics committee made up of an equal number of members of both parties? I don't want to get in the way of a good rant, but it seems to me this one is on the doorstep of the entire House.

There's been plenty of efforts to avoid disclosure on both sides of the aisle over time. But, as usual, partisans only see the issues on the other side of the fence.

 

[joecct]

I had a friend down here in DC who was relatively intelligent -- engineer, graduate of Virginia Tech, systems analyst, not particularly educated but by no means a moron -- who told me completely stone-facedly that "it is an established legal fact" that "unless you work for the government or a government contractor, you are not obligated to pay taxes."

He worked for a government contractor, which is the only reason he was not having this conversation from a prison phone.

NoVa doesn't have much of a sovereign citizens movement but there are zillions of guys (they are all white male engineers) who completely believe all this far right nonsense. When I got down here I just assumed it was garden variety Neo-Confederate stupidity, but turns out they're more likely to be from New Jersey or Massachusetts than Alabama or Louisiana. The defense industry is riddled with these kooks.

You going to barricade the Rt. 15 bridge?

 

[Kepler]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

There's been plenty of efforts to avoid disclosure on both sides of the aisle over time. But, as usual, partisans only see the issues on the other side of the fence.

I buy this completely. Although there is False Equivalence to burn out there ("why won't that darn Obama work with the Republicans in Congress?" ), the one thing I believe is absolutely bipartisan is the sheer corruption of Congressional culture.

Again with the wife. I remember when she was working for a Senate office in around '04 or '05 how she would argue up and down about the procedural necessity of earmarks. This was taken as Gospel on the Hill, by almost every Member and, far more importantly, by every Legislative Assistant and Chief of Staff. They would simply not accept that the process was inherently corrupt. Ditto for log rolling. And blue slips. And anonymous holds. I knew a lot of staff in those days, and many of them were sincerely devoted to removing corruption from government -- but they couldn't see the beam in their own eye. And even those who could see the irony believed their boss couldn't just unilaterally disarm, without risking legislative irrelevance.

 

[Priceless]

This is a more of a state and local piece, but I could not find the appropriate thread.

Any Mainers out there like to comment? I know nothing at all about any of these people except obviously Snowe and the wackjob HOF Guv.



In short, domestic terrorists.

See, 8 years ago when I went to South Dakota to campaign on the abortion ban, I bragged that we had left the lunatic fringe in the dustbin of history. We even had every member of the Legislature stand up and announce on the record that they were gay because some nutjob in the Republican party invited "fact and rumor" about the sex lives of Legislators.

Then in 2010 we had a half dozen candidates get on the ballot for governor, and LePage wins be default with a whopping 39% of the vote. Pretty much everything he's done since is designed to waste money and ruin Maine's reputation before he goes back home to Florida in November.

This is just Example Q on a long list of things he has done. The latest (even after this) is threatening to execute the Speaker of the House and Senate President. He's such an embarrassment.

 

[Kepler]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

You going to barricade the Rt. 15 bridge?

Not when I need it to go to work.

I am actually in the process of moving *to* NoVa, so I'm going to get up close and personal with even more of these nutbars. Except hopefully we'll probably move to a neighborhood that's to the left of Portland.

 

[Rover]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

See, 8 years ago when I went to South Dakota to campaign on the abortion ban, I bragged that we had left the lunatic fringe in the dustbin of history. We even had every member of the Legislature stand up and announce on the record that they were gay because some nutjob in the Republican party invited "fact and rumor" about the sex lives of Legislators.

Then in 2010 we had a half dozen candidates get on the ballot for governor, and LePage wins be default with a whopping 39% of the vote. Pretty much everything he's done since is designed to waste money and ruin Maine's reputation before he goes back home to Florida in November.

This is just Example Q on a long list of things he has done. The latest (even after this) is threatening to execute the Speaker of the House and Senate President. He's such an embarrassment.

Which is why people need to vote. Not you specifically, but I can't stand when some whack job gets elected in a low turnout contest, then people are SHOCKED he/she turned out to be nuts. Now I understand he had some 3rd party help last time, which is happening again, but people need to get off their @ sses and pick one of the other two alternatives. LePage should be at 10% of the vote, not 40%.

 

[Kepler]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

Maine's reputation

This may be the first time those words were ever uttered. ;-)

I don't think Maine is like Arizona or Florida where people look at the Gov and say, "those people must be idiots." I think we all know Maine is like Toronto -- we know they got handed a one time only freakshow and as soon as possible that guy will just be another footnote in the TimeLife series, The Illustrated History of Crazy.

 

[joecct]

Not when I need it to go to work.

I am actually in the process of moving *to* NoVa, so I'm going to get up close and personal with even more of these nutbars. Except hopefully we'll probably move to a neighborhood that's to the left of Portland.

You're part of the Maryland tax exodus. Wish I could join you.

 

[SJHovey]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

You're part of the Maryland tax exodus. Wish I could join you.

Not possible. Kepler is too pure to use tax laws for his own financial advantage.

 

[busterman62]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

Doesn't the article say the decision was made by the House Ethics Committee, not the House GOP? Isn't the House Ethics committee made up of an equal number of members of both parties? I don't want to get in the way of a good rant, but it seems to me this one is on the doorstep of the entire House.

You, Sir, are wrong. The Democrats did everything humanly possible to prevent this form occurring..............right up until they voted for it.

 

[SJHovey]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

You, Sir, are wrong. The Democrats did everything humanly possible to prevent this form occurring..............right up until they voted for it.

Here's the thing. I don't even believe this is that big a deal, although I'm sure some here, and in Washington, will try to politicize it.

The information still has to be reported by the Representatives. They report it to the Clerk, and I think it goes up on the website. It's just that it's not going to be all neatly collated and handed to the press and pseudo-press (i.e. bloggers) in a ready-to-bloviate format. Heaven forbid anyone have to do any work or ask some questions for a story. Let's just wait to have them hand it to us, then we'll run the story and squawk about the contents and preen about our fabulous freedom of the press.

 

[walrus]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

The latest (even after this) is threatening to execute the Speaker of the House and Senate President. He's such an embarrassment.

He threatened to kill Alfond? or some group he was meeting with threatened it?

 

[Priceless]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

He threatened to kill Alfond? or some group he was meeting with threatened it?

“LePage indulged and supported the sovereign’s beliefs,” Tipping wrote. “He allowed them to present a number of conspiracy theories, told them he agreed with their interpretation of state law, promised to publicize their beliefs, discussed with them the arrest and hanging of [House Speaker Mark] Eves and [Senate President Justin] Alfond and brought in [Kennebec County] Sheriff Randall Liberty to pursue their case, among other actions (for complete context of this incident, see the full excerpt).”

Tipping cited a recording of a Feb. 4, 2013 , radio program called the “Aroostook Watchmen.” During the recording, the show’s hosts, Steve Martin and Jack McCarthy, recall a recent meeting with the governor. The men say they talked with the governor about hanging being the punishment for high treason, which they believed Eves and Alfond had committed.

http://bangordailynews.com/2014/06/...discussed-executing-maine-democratic-leaders/

 

[walrus]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

http://bangordailynews.com/2014/06/...discussed-executing-maine-democratic-leaders/

Lepage jumped the shark in the first week of office but I'm not going to take what Tipping says as gospel.He has an agenda. Hanging seems a little harsh but silver spoon boy can go **** himself

 

[Priceless]

Lepage jumped the shark in the first week of office but I'm not going to take what Tipping says as gospel.He has an agenda. Hanging seems a little harsh but silver spoon boy can go **** himself

You don't have to take his word for it. You can take the word of the two radio hosts who were there.

 

[Kepler]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

You're part of the Maryland tax exodus. Wish I could join you.

I'm part of the reducing my commute time by 40 minutes each way exodus. I'd move to VA if the tax rate were twice MD's.

Anyway, having lived in NY and MA, MD's taxes seem low to me. And I've always been a realist about paying for the infrastructure I use rather than ducking my taxes and passing the cost to my grandchildren, GOP-style.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

This week in Republicans:

“[Hillary Clinton] needs the single ladies vote. I call them ‘The Beyonce Voters’ – the single ladies. Obama won single ladies by 76% last time, and made up about a quarter of the electorate.

“They depend on government because they’re not depending on their husbands. They need things like contraception, health care, and they love to talk about equal pay.” - Fox News’ Jesse Watters

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/hillary-clinton-fox-news-and-beyonce-voters

And here's evidence supply side doesn't work. Brownback in Kansas slashed the 1% taxes so low they can't pay for the State needs AND it didn't create jobs. Talk about your total failures.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/cautionary-tale-brownbacks-failed-kansas-experiment

Christopher Ingraham flagged a candid assessment of the Kansas plan published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“In truth, Kansas is a cautionary tale, not a model,” the CBPP found. “As other states recover from the recent recession and turn toward the future, Kansas’ huge tax cuts have left that state’s schools and other public services stuck in the recession, and declining further – a serious threat to the state’s long-term economic vitality. Meanwhile, promises of immediate economic improvement have utterly failed to materialize.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/cautionary-tale-brownbacks-failed-kansas-experiment

 

[Kepler]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

This week in Republicans

Q. How do you win a debate against a conservative?

A. Let him speak.

It is as if the GOP is running a double blind experiment to see how low a percentage of women a national party can get and still remain viable.

At this point, what percentage of non-fundamentalist women consider themselves Republican? 10%?

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: 2nd Term Part VIII - The Thin Red Line

This week in Republicans:




http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/hillary-clinton-fox-news-and-beyonce-voters

And here's evidence supply side doesn't work. Brownback in Kansas slashed the 1% taxes so low they can't pay for the State needs AND it didn't create jobs. Talk about your total failures.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/cautionary-tale-brownbacks-failed-kansas-experiment



http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/cautionary-tale-brownbacks-failed-kansas-experiment

What does it mean for a school to be in recession? I always liked recess myself.